Conservative Media Mogul Rupert Murdoch Buys Apartment at NYC’s Hampton House for $30M 

Conservative Media Mogul Rupert Murdoch Buys Apartment at NYC’s Hampton House for $30M

Edited by: TJVNews.com

It appears that the nonagenarian conservative media mogul, Rupert Murdoch, is returning to the Big Apple. The Wall Street Journal reported that according to those familiar with the matter told them that Murdoch has signed a contract to buy the longtime New York City home of late hedge-fund titan Julian H. Robertson, Jr.

Although he is still waiting on approval from the board, Murdoch plunked down $30 million for the Hampshire House pad located at 150 Central Park South. Murdoch first lived in that building in the early 1990s with his then wife, Anna Murdoch, as was reported by Curbed. Curbed also reported that in 2000, after divorcing Anna and marrying Wendi Deng, Murdoch sold the Hampshire House apartment for $5.5 million, a building record at the time.

He will now be living on the 27^th floor. Curbed.com reported that his previous apartment was located three floors below at the storied Hampshire House and was approximately 3,400 square feet, Murdoch’s new digs is approximately 6,500 square feet and has seven bedrooms.

It is a full floor co-op apartment with a 38-foot-long living room notable for its three enormous arched doorways that lead out to a terrace overlooking the park, according to the listing, as was reported by the Wall Street Journal.   There is also a formal dining room, a paneled media room with a wall of bookcases and a dramatic tiled entry hall with a view of the park, the WSJ said.

The Hampshire House is a 1930s-era building known for its steeply pitched copper roof and was also the former home of philanthropist Alice Tully, the Wall Street Journal reported.  Tully once lived on the 27th floor, first buying an apartment in 1959 before spending the next decade buying up the rest of the floor — including an apartment Greta Garbo owned and Frank Sinatra rented — to eventually create the current mega-unit, Curbed reported.  After she died in 1993, coincidentally at the age of 91, which is Murdoch’s current age, the apartment was put up for sale, the report said.  The New York Times described it at the time as a place “whose value, estimated at $7 million, excludes the spirit of the great lady, an incalculable extra,”  Curbed reported.

The WSJ reported that Tully filled the apartment with souvenirs from her travels, especially artistic representations of animals in the form of sculptures, photographs and paintings. One of her prized possessions was a photograph of her in Ethiopia cuddling one of the lions owned by the Emperor Haile Selassie, according to the 1994 book, “American and Modern Prints and Illustrated Books,” the WSJ reported. The unit was purchased by Julian Robertson almost three decades ago.

Robertson, who died in August 2022 at age 90, was the founder of hedge-fund Tiger Management, the WSJ reported. The managers he trained became widely known in the financial industry as Tiger Cubs and include the likes of Philippe Laffont of Coatue Management and Charles “Chase” Coleman of Tiger Global Management, the report said.

Murdoch is the executive chairman of News Corp, which owns The Wall Street Journal’s publisher, the paper reported. In March 2022, he listed a penthouse at New York’s One Madison condo tower for $62 million, but has since lowered the price to $46 million, the WSJ reported.

In the transaction, Murdoch is being represented by Deborah Grubman of the Corcoran Group and the property was listed by Joanne Douglas of Douglas Elliman, the WSJ reported.